Looking for a tasty “superfood” to bump up your healthy diet? Coconut oil is surely the Swiss Army knife of superfoods with its unique combination of medium chain fatty acids that provide a myriad of positive health benefits. These fatty acids are metabolized different than saturated fats found in steak or cheese. Melt over hot cooked grains, cereals and veggies. Use organic refined coconut oil for sautéing, stir-frying and baking. If you prefer a stronger coconut flavor, try virgin or extra-virgin, but remember, it can burn more quickly, making it better for medium to low-heat cooking. Here are four reasons to toss a jar of coconut oil into your grocery basket.
- Heart Disease: For instance, in the South Pacific native people eat 60% of their calories from coconuts and are the biggest consumers of saturated fat in the world. However, this population is in excellent health, with no evidence of heart disease!
- Obesity: Although it’s commonly thought that obesity is only a matter of calories, the source of these calories is important as well. The medium-chain triglycerides in coconut oil have been shown to increase 24-hour energy expenditure by as much as 5%, potentially leading to significant weight loss over the long term.
- Appetite Suppression: That’s right, the fatty acids in coconut oil can significantly reduce your ferocious appetite, which in turn can help weight management.
- Cholesterol: Studies in both humans and rats show that coconut oil improves important risk factors like total, LDL and HDL cholesterol. The good news is this may translate to a reduced risk of heart disease.
BAD !!!
Just finished listening to the Good” from TBP. So, if negative events happen, that is Good. Thus, the corollary is if Good events happen, then that must be BAD.
OK, so I finally broke down and bought a jar of coconut oil. My question is what are some of the best ways to ingest it. I tried putting it in my coffee and found it to oily and did not really enjoy the taste. Also what daily quantity is suggested.
Bob.
BostonBob
Rub it all over your body. It’ll make your skin as soft as a baby’s bottom.
I’ll get right on that Admin. Maybe I can get Mrs Bostonbob to help.
Bob.
Use it in place of butter or olive oil when you cook.
What admin said – whatever you rub into your body goes into your blood stream bypassing the liver. You shouldn’t put anything onto your skin that you wouldn’t eat.
I put a tablespoon in my morning tea along with turmeric and black pepper to help absorption.
BostonBob, there are different types of coconut oil which are good for different things. A refined coconut oil has very little coconut flavor and can be used as a replacement for just about any other cooking oil without changing the taste of the food. I use refined coconut oil to fry eggs in the morning, for example. A virgin coconut oil has moderate to strong coconut taste (depending on the specific oil and method of extraction). So for cooking it is useful for recipes where the coconut complements the other flavors. Ethnic foods that already use coconut milk (Thai and Indian for example) are a logical choice. Virgin coconut oil also seems to work well in some baked goods: cookies, etc. My all time favorite use for virgin coconut oil is popcorn. Pop the corn using the coconut oil and then drizzle on lots of butter, yum!
I use coconut oil in many places I would use butter, vegetable oil, shortening. But I still use butter, never, ever use the death oils marketed as healthy like canola, vegetable, cottonseed.
I recently found avocado oil (buy it in bulk at bulkapothecary.com), and it is fabulous for higher heat uses, and I sometimes use it to stretch out the olive oil.
I try to find a brand of coconut oil that I really enjoy the taste, then just eat a spoonful or two a day, and my new puppy is right there by my side wanting her shares too.
Avalon is on the cutting edge of using coconut oil, I love it!
We only cook with coconut oil, butter & occasionally lard. As TE says, also, don’t even cook with olive oil, use strictly for oils and dressings. Smoothies are also a great use. You can also use the manna in baking and smoothies. It’s antibacterial, antimicrobial, increases bodies ability to produce ketones which help to burn fat. Jokes aside, it is a great moisturizer & doesn’t clog your pores. Also keep you out of the doctor’s office.
I switched from olive oil to coconut oil almost three years ago for health reasons. An easy switch, you just use coconut oil where you’ve been using other fats and oils.
I had a very high and rising cholesterol level and my doctor put me on a statin drug for it. That stuff make me soooooo sick, felt like I was going down a hill with death waiting at the bottom.
So I just quit them, didn’t make my doctor real happy but he did admit that some people just can’t take them.
A year later my cholesterol level had returned to almost normal, and today it is considered fully acceptable for my age. No other change than the exclusive use of coconut oil in place of olive oil and all other cooking oils. An easy change to make.
One nice snack I like (and kids like it too) is cinnamon toast made with coconut oil spread on whole wheat toast and sprinkled with a mix of xylitol (instead of sugar) and cinnamon, try it sometime.
Additional benefits I noticed immediately -the cholesterol level took a while and is still ongoing- were increased energy and less fatigue. Felt better in general but how much of that was from being able to do more physical activity without tiring and how much how much from the direct effects of the oil I don’t know.
FWIW, you can use coconut oil in one form or another in place of all other oils for cooking an in your diet (there is a room temperature liquid one available) and raw or virgin oil has more health benefits than processed oil (which some people prefer for its lack of coconut flavor). There is no “extra virgin” grade of coconut oil. “Extra virgin” is just a marketing ploy to capitalize on olive oil grades and command a higher price or make one brand seem better than another. Coconut oil is either raw -virgin- or processed. Refined is not quite as good as raw but almost as good and usually much less expensive for some reason.
I try to consume about two tablespoons or more of coconut oil a day, which isn’t much but I’ve never been a large consumer of oils, fats and butter anyway.
Also FWIW, you can rub as much of that stuff into your scalp as you want but it won’t grow hair. Still waiting for something that will do that.
FWIW- Anything that gets on your skin is absorbed and is in every cell in the body within 27 seconds or so I have read many times. Coconut oil is a great treatment for older people who are having problems with memory. SSS needs a jar of coconut oil to help him remember what year he had those great investment returns and dividends.
Coconut Curry Shrimp:
1 lb shrimp – peeled
1 can coconut milk (shake well)
2 tsp curry powder
2″ – 3″ yellow onion
1/4 tsp salt
couple fresh basil leaves chopped (optional)
optional – lime juice, tbl honey – try without this first – some people prefer it without .
Basmati rice or brown rice for serving.
Peel and shred onion (I use coarse grater)
Rub shrimp with salt, curry powder, and onion – let stand 10-15 min.
Stir fry in a little canola oil, just until they turn pink (don’t over cook). Remove shrimp from wok.
Add coconut milk to wok – bring to simmer
Add shrimp – cook at a simmer for 5 minutes.
If you want stir in the lime juice and honey.
Serve over rice.
Bea,
Not every cell and not in 27 seconds.
And not everything is transcutaneous, the skin as actually a barrier against most substances or we would all be dead the first time we came in contact with anything not compatible with our bodily functions.
But I have heard stories of improved brain functioning from consuming it for those with memory problems. Don’t know anyone personally that would demonstrate such a thing.
@Dutchman
I would opt for wild caught shrimp.
TE
I’m not going to ask “where have you been???” …. because that’s none of my business. You have your reasons. But, it IS nice to see a post from you. Missed ya. At least I know you haven’t transitioned to the Great Beyond!!
I posted this back in Oct 2013 —-
—– since that time we’ve probably consumed about 30 gallons of coconut oil. I’ve been “sick” maybe 4-5 days during that time. (I also consume 2-3 raw garlic cloves and a tablespoon of raw organic vinegar daily.) Eat well, stay well.
I echo Stucky on TE, glad you are back.
The wife and are are making 2016 a new year of focusing on what foods we purchase, where we purchase, and what we will put into our bodies.
Coconut oil is included, I even use it to season my cast iron cooking pans rather than vegetable oils along with my green morning smoothie.
I’ve lost five pounds on my way to my running weight of 155, she is lighter by 10 lbs on her way to 145, maybe 140. Just by watching what we eat, I quit competitive running and playing open league soccer so I was getting a bit soft, time to tune up and stay healthy going forward.
Coconut oil is like 95% saturated fats. I don’t get what is so healthy about clogging your arteries.
All your various Samoan types are fat as whales, and have the highest rate of diabetes in the world
Around 50 percent of the fat in coconut oil is lauric acid, which is rarely found in nature. In fact, coconut oil contains the most lauric acid of any substance on Earth.
Your body converts lauric acid into monolaurin, a monoglyceride that can actually destroy lipid-coated viruses such as HIV and herpes, influenza, measles, gram-negative bacteria, and protozoa such as giardia lamblia.
This is undoubtedly part of what makes it so medicinally useful—both when taken internally and applied externally.
Coconut oil is comprised of medium chain fatty acids (MCFAs) that are easily digested and readily cross cell membranes. MCFAs are immediately converted by your liver into energy rather than being stored as fat.
http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2013/11/18/coconut-oil-uses.aspx
Coconut oil was what made movie theater popcorn taste so good for most of the 20th century. It came in 5 gallon cans of orangy-white semi-solid (at room temperature) that had to be melted with a heating element before pumping into the kettle. It was cheap and greasy.
Virtually every cinema replaced it with non-hydrogenated vegetable, canola, or similar oils in the last 20 years, though.
I switched to using coconut oil exclusively in all my cooking for some years now. My weight is right where it needs to be and according to my doctor my blood test results are right where they need to be.
I make an oil and vinegar salad dressing using coconut oil. I use — EQUAL PARTS– Coconut Oil, Apple Cider Vinegar (organic of course), and Fresh Cloves of Garlic.
If the Coconut oil is cold and in solid form you’ll need to heat it just enough to get it to where it’s liquid. Put all three in a blender and blend thoroughly. Use on your salad as you would any oil and vinegar dressing. I also use that mixture in some of my cooking.
5) Reverses Alzheimer’s: http://www.naturalnews.com/030373_coconut_oil_Alzheimers_disease.html
Would you possibly have some coconut oil to sell me?